Carnations for Graduation
by Skye Maxwell
Summary: Now seniors, the gang celebrate a Hollywood Arts tradition and decide who they will walk with at graduation. Robbie is afraid to ask Cat, but Beck and Jade aren't having it. Meanwhile, Cat is nowhere to be found. Cabbie, with Bade and Tandré.
1. Chapter 1

**Carnations for Graduation**

As soon as the bell rang, Beck, Jade, and Tori were the first ones out of the classroom.

"Ugh, I am so glad it's lunchtime. Hard tests make me so hungry!" Tori complained.

Slinging an arm around Jade's shoulders as they walked, Beck said, "I know. That test seriously kicked my butt."

"I think I might have failed," Jade sighed. "And what up with that last extra credit question? It didn't even make sense."

"I think it was supposed to be some sort of sick joke," Beck guessed.

"Well, I'm not laughing," Jade said irritably.

Tori stopped at her locker and tossed her heavy math book in, never wanting to see it again. "Whatever. At this point, as long as that class doesn't stop me from graduating, I don't even care."

"True chiz," Jade said as Beck nodded in agreement.

Tori shut her locker and leaned against it tiredly. André, Robbie, and Cat weren't there yet, and since the three of them were in different classes, they always all met up at Tori's locker before lunch.

"Hey, what are Sinjin and Burf doing?" Tori asked, noticing that they were sitting at a table across the hall and handing out white flowers.

"Probably something stupid," Jade guessed, not bothering to turn and look at them.

Looking over his shoulder, Beck said, "They're handing out carnations for Carnation Day."

"Oh, what's Carnation Day?" Tori asked, thinking it sounded exciting.

Jade groaned. "Seriously, Vega? Carnation Day happens literally every year. You've been here since you were a sophomore, and you still know nothing."

"I do too know things!" Tori defended, although not noticing a yearly event did weaken her case. "Come on, just tell me about Carnation Day!"

"Hollywood Arts tradition," Beck explained. "Every year on Carnation Day, all the seniors get a carnation to give to the person they want to walk with at the graduation ceremony."

"The carnations are white because they're supposed to symbolize good luck and pure love, or something stupid like that," Jade added, rolling her eyes.

"That's such a cool idea! I love this school," Tori said fondly, hardly believing that she and all her friends would be graduating from Hollywood Arts so soon.

"Here, let me demonstrate," Beck said, earning a smirk from Jade as he took her hand and pulled her across the hall.

Beck took a carnation off the table and held it between him and Jade. "You are sadistic and beautiful, and that's why I love you. Will you walk with me at graduation?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jade teased, taking the flower from him and examining it up close. "This will look lovely between the blades of my scissors," she said before pulling a smiling Beck into a kiss.

"Aw," Tori said, beaming at her friends.

After he and Jade had pulled apart, Beck told Tori, "And that's how you do Carnation Day."

"Okay, I think I got it. So Carnation Day must be a big deal around here," Tori concluded.

Beck shrugged. "As far as Hollywood Arts traditions go, I'd say it's pretty lighthearted."

"Lighthearted, huh?" Then Tori got an idea. "Oh, you know what I should do? I should give one to André! It'll be a surprise! What do you guys think?"

"No," Jade responded automatically, but she hadn't really been listening to Tori. Instead she was texting Robbie, letting him know that the carnations had arrived.

Ignoring Jade's response, Beck smiled knowingly at Tori and said, "Yeah, I think he would like that."

"Tori!" André yelled, appearing at the top of the main stairs, looking like he was really excited about something.

"André!" Tori yelled back with just as much excitement, but then she remembered that she was supposed to be surprising him. "Don't move!" she yelled at him suddenly, causing him to throw his hands up in surrender and stop on the second to last step.

"Give me a flower," Tori whispered to Beck and Jade, putting an arm behind her back and waving her open palm.

"André, your shoe is untied!" Beck called, improvising a distraction.

With his hands still raised, André looked down at his sneakers. "Really? I could have sworn I double-knotted them this time…"

While he was distracted, Jade quickly grabbed a carnation off the table and slipped it into Tori's hand.

"Thanks," Tori whispered.

"Not welcome," Jade whispered back.

"Man, my shoe isn't untied," André said, looking up just in time to see Tori running towards him.

Tori stopped at the foot of the stairs and then got down on one knee, catching André off guard.

"Oh my goodness," he said, putting a hand over his heart.

"André... even though I've only been here on earth, I'm guessing you're probably one of the best people in the entire universe," Tori said. "If it weren't for you, I never would have had the guts to come to this school, and without you, I never would have gotten through it. Will you do me the honor of walking with me at graduation?"

Tori pulled the carnation out from behind her back and held it up to him.

Instead of reaching to take the flower like Tori had expected, André sat down on the steps so that he and Tori were on the same eye level. He had a very serious expression on his face, and Tori frowned in confusion, not having considered that he might say no.

"Only if you'll do me the same honor," André said, pulling a carnation from his back pocket.

"Aw," Tori said softly, looking at his carnation and then at the teasing smile that was spreading across his face.

Laughing, they exchanged flowers and hugged each other tightly.

Robbie walked up beside Beck and Jade, having gotten out of class a couple minutes late.

"Bonjour, Bec et Jade," Robbie greeted.

"Don't 'bonjour' me," Jade said, wishing Robbie had never signed up for that stupid French class.

"Bonjour, Robert Chapiro," Beck returned, saying Robbie's full name the French way because he knew Robbie liked hearing it. Beck didn't speak French, but with Robbie's help, he was gradually adding a French accent to his repertoire.

"What did I miss?" Robbie asked, seeing Tori and André hugging it out on the stairs.

Beck answered, "Not too much. I gave Jade a carnation. Tori and André gave each other carnations."

"Aw," Robbie said cheerfully.

"So, are you gonna give Cat a carnation or not?" Jade asked bluntly, twirling her own carnation between her fingers.

"Cat? No," Robbie answered, acting as if the possibility hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Why not?" Beck asked, frowning.

"I mean, Cat and I don't have to walk together just because we're the last two people not paired off in our little group," he said, gesturing to his four friends. "She has other friends."

Jade scowled and nudged Beck forward with her elbow. "Fix it," she said shortly, folding her arms and walking away.

Beck shook his head at Robbie and pulled him to the side.

"Am I in trouble?" Robbie asked.

"Pretty much," Beck said. "Now what's up? Why don't you want to ask Cat to walk with you?"

Robbie told him, "I'm sure someone else will ask her, and she'll say yes. Why should I get in the way of that?"

"I have no idea," Beck said sarcastically. "Maybe because I thought you two were best friends? Maybe because there's no one else you'd rather walk with at graduation?"

"I don't want her to feel like she _has_ to walk with me."

"Rob, it's just graduation," Beck said. "It's not like you're asking her to marry you… But if you ever need help with proposing, you should definitely ask Tori."

"Huh?" Robbie said, confused.

"Never mind," Beck said, crossing his arms and getting back to the point. "It's not as difficult as you're making it."

"It's not as simple as _you're_ making it! Whatever. Graduation is just a silly ceremony, and… and Cat can do whatever she wants…"

"Rob, come on," Beck said, seeing that he was starting to get to Robbie.

"No," Robbie said stubbornly, collecting his resolve. Glancing around to make sure no one nearby was listening, Robbie said, "Look, I decided to back off with Cat a while ago."

"Really?" Beck asked. "Because it seems to me like you guys have been getting closer lately. You're always hanging out. She's always smiling when she's with you."

Robbie hated that he was blushing. "No, that's just us getting back to where we were _before_ my last bout of idiocy."

Beck wasn't buying it. "Rob, your bouts of idiocy are constant, but she's still sticking around."

"I'm not talking about my regular bouts of idiocy; I'm talking about my romantic bouts of idiocy," Robbie said, pushing up his glasses. "I've been rejected by her more than once, and it hurts."

Beck uncrossed his arms, not wanting to see Robbie upset. "Robbie, I think if you asked her, she would be ecstatic, and she would say yes. Things have changed, and you and I both know you two are much closer now than you ever were before."

"Maybe it looks like that from the outside, but Cat and I have an unspoken agreement that anything romantic between us isn't an option."

"Unspoken agreements aren't real," Beck insisted. "A real agreement requires speaking, or a written contract, or at least a spit shake!"

"I don't need a spoken agreement or a spit shake to know that Cat just likes me as a friend. And you know what? That's great, because I don't deserve someone like her as a friend in the first place!"

"That's stupid and untrue," Beck said candidly, "but even if you wanna pretend to believe that, you can just ask her as a friend!"

Robbie explained pseudo-calmly, "I _can't_ just ask her as a friend. I can't even talk to her about anything serious for long because I love her so much, and I always feel like I'm about to spill my guts out to her, which would freak her out. It's not fair to her if I keep making these grand romantic gestures that she can't return. She needs her space to do what she wants without the pressure of potentially hurting me."

Beck looked away, wanting to stand his ground but also feeling that Robbie's heart was in the right place (though his head was another case entirely).

"And she _is_ my best friend," Robbie added. "So I'll give her whatever she wants."

Jade stomped over to them impatiently. "And who are _you_ going to walk with?" she asked Robbie, revealing that she had been listening the whole time.

Robbie shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll just see who doesn't have a partner at the end of Carnation Day, and I'll walk with them."

Beck looked at Jade and said, "This is confusing. He's being kind of mature, but he's also being kind of immature. I'm very conflicted."

Jade stared Robbie down and said to Beck, "Yeah, it's a problem. And we're friends with both of them, so it's unclear what we should do now. Especially since we don't know what Cat's thinking, because let's face it, Cat probably doesn't know what Cat's thinking. My gut instinct is to just beat him up until he agrees to ask her, but some strange little voice in my head is telling me that might not be the right thing to do."

"Ah, the weekly visit from Jade's conscience," Beck said, as if he had just encountered a fond acquaintance of the past. "Well, just like Robbie can't make Cat's decisions for her, we can't make his decisions for him," he concluded.

"Fine," Jade conceded. "It's not actually fine, but you know… Fine."

"Well, I'm glad you two could come to a consensus about my life decisions," Robbie said indignantly.

"I'm hungry. Let's go to lunch," Jade said, clapping a hand on Robbie's shoulder.

"Wait, where _is_ Cat?" Beck asked, looking around but not finding her.

"Probably hiding from me," Robbie admitted dejectedly.

"Come on, I'll buy you a taco," Beck said apologetically, pushing Robbie forward.

"Wait for us!" Tori called, catching up to the group with André in tow.

"What's wrong with Robbie?" André asked, despite the fact that Robbie had swiftly wiped the sad look off his face.

Jade cursed André's emotional perceptiveness under her breath. "Robbie's mad because I threatened to cut the pants off of him," she lied.

As they went through the doors toward the Asphalt Café, Tori said, "Again? Jade, how many times do we have to tell you to stop threatening Robbie's pants?"

Robbie was barely listening, but he appreciated the distraction of Tori and Jade's back-and-forth banter. He never thought he'd hear Jade admit out loud that he was her friend, or that she would be so invested in protecting him, in her own frightening way. Then again, things didn't usually turn out the way that Robbie expected.

* * *

A/N: Since they're seniors now, some of the characters and their relationships have changed/matured. The inspiration for Carnation Day came from a deleted scene from my Cabbie fic, "Earworm." This chapter is 1 of 2, and the second chapter will be up next week. Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated. :)


	2. Chapter 2

"But when I pulled the carnation out of my back pocket, that was super smooth, right?" André asked, still reveling in his Carnation Day moment with Tori.

"The smoothest," Tori laughed.

"Hey, you were smooth too, girl. I think my heart might have gotten off beat during that little speech of yours. And André never gets off beat," André joked.

"That's me! Smooth as a smoothie!" Tori proclaimed.

Jade grumbled, "I'd like to put the two of you in a blender."

It was near the end of lunch period, but Cat still hadn't shown up. Robbie hadn't eaten anything, opting instead to break the hard shell of his taco up into pieces that he was shaping into a mosaic of sorts.

"Rob, I don't think that's how you're supposed to eat that," André commented.

"I'm making art," Robbie said. "Lane told me that art is therapeutic."

"I don't know if I would exactly call that art," Beck tried to say nicely, wondering if he should buy Robbie another taco, a soft one this time.

"I wouldn't," Jade said definitively, becoming increasingly annoyed with Robbie's pathetic state.

"I think Robbie's art is nice!" Tori said, trying to be positive. "It, um, speaks to me."

Beck teased, "And what is Robbie's taco saying to you?"

Tori rolled her eyes, and then her phone went off. She snatched it off the table, but when she saw who the message was from, she groaned in disappointment.

"Ugh, it's just Trina. I've been texting Cat for like twenty minutes, and she won't text me back."

"She didn't answer my texts all weekend," Robbie reported miserably.

"She didn't answer because she threw her phone in a fountain on Friday night," Jade stated.

Robbie looked up at her with raised eyebrows, but then he shook his head and returned to his taco.

"Cat threw her phone in a fountain?" André asked.

"Yeah. The three of us were at the plaza, and she wanted to make a wish at the fountain…"

"She had a coin in one hand and her phone in the other," Beck said.

"She closed her eyes to make a wish, and then she accidentally tossed the phone instead of the coin," Jade said, shaking her head.

"But then she just shrugged it off and said if her wish came true, it was worth it. Must have been an important wish."

"I guess we'll never know," Jade said, pursing her lips. "Anyways, she should be getting a replacement phone in the mail today."

"That's our Little Red," André said, not too surprised by Cat's antics.

"Hey, wait a second," Tori said, turning to Jade angrily. "So you just let me sit here texting Cat this whole time even though you knew she didn't have a phone?"

"Yep," Jade replied. She would have let Vega keep going too if Robbie hadn't seemed so upset about not hearing from Cat over the weekend.

Beck was the first to notice Cat walking up behind Robbie, but just as he was about to say something, she quickly put an index finger over her lips to shush him. Beck grinned covertly as Cat took animatedly large steps toward the table in an effort to not be heard.

"Surprise!" Cat shouted, throwing her arms around Robbie's neck and making him jump.

"I'm gonna have a heart attack," Robbie wheezed, his eyes wide and unblinking.

"No you're not, silly. Ooh, is that a taco mosaic? I love food art!" Cat said from beside his ear.

"It's nothing," Robbie said quickly, pushing the taco to the side.

"Oh, okay," Cat said, noticing that Robbie sounded a little down. "Guess what? I'm about to make you happy!"

"You always make me happy," Robbie let slip. He couldn't help himself.

Cat smiled, letting go of Robbie and smoothing down the back of his hair down where she had ruffled it. Then she took off her backpack and situated herself in the empty spot next to him.

She was sitting too close to Robbie for comfort, with her arm pressed against his, which was swiftly ruining Robbie's plans to not pay too much attention to her. He looked away from her, but then he caught Jade giving him a heated glare that made him want to duck behind Cat like a human shield.

"Robbie! Robbie? Robbie, pay attention!" Cat said, poking him in the side where she knew it tickled.

"Stop it!" Robbie giggled reluctantly.

When he finally looked at her, she was absolutely radiant with happiness, and he was pretty sure his resolve was about to melt into a pitiful little puddle.

"Did you know that some scholars think the word 'carnation' comes from the word 'coronation,' because the Greeks would use carnations in their ceremonial crowns?" Cat asked, batting her eyes at Robbie expectantly.

"No, I didn't," Robbie replied, confused as to why Cat was telling him that. "How did you know that?"

"I found the 'Random Article' button on Wikipedia," Cat said, smiling. "I love that button!"

Robbie looked away, trying to not to blurt out anything about what _he_ loved.

Cat started poking him again though, and when he looked at her, she had pulled something out of her backpack that looked like a small wreath.

"I got out of lab late," Cat explained, "and then I found Sinjin and Burf handing out flowers in the hallway. They let me have a bunch because they accidentally ordered too many. Look, it's just like a Greek coronation crown! I weaved it in the girls' restroom. It was very therapeutic."

Robbie couldn't help but smile, admiring Cat's handiwork and adoring her simple joy.

"I made it for you," she said, pushing it into Robbie's hands.

"For me?" he asked, hesitating to take it. "Why?"

Cat faltered, caught off guard by his question. "Well, because it's Carnation Day, and, well, you know…"

Robbie shook his head and said quietly, "I really don't know. Anything."

Seeing Robbie's sadness, Cat wondered briefly if this was what heartbreak felt like. It hurt to think that she had made him unhappy or confused; she should have clarified how she felt about him a long time ago.

Forgetting what she had initially planned on saying, Cat took a deep breath and then took Robbie's hands in hers to steady herself. "Robbie, I want to walk with you at graduation…" Staring at their hands, she added shyly, "…and everywhere else."

Feeling Cat's rapid pulse beating in her fingers and at the same time feeling like his own heart was going to stop, Robbie asked faintly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cat was usually the one asking that question, but now she realized that it could be a not-so-easy question to answer. "It… it means I want to walk beside you wherever you go. I want to be wherever you are."

Severely needing a reality check, Robbie suddenly turned to the others and asked, "Is this happening?"

"Yes, it is," Beck said pointedly. "You heard her."

Jade clarified, "She wants to walk with you at graduation."

"And everywhere else," André reminded.

" _Everywhere,"_ Tori emphasized. " _All_ of the places."

"Everywhere?" Robbie asked around the lump in his throat.

"Everywhere," Cat confirmed, bringing his attention back to her. Before she could get too choked up, she said, "Robbie, I like to think of you as mine. I want you to think of me as yours too. So will you walk with me?"

He could barely breathe, but he somehow managed to ask, "That's really what you want?"

Laughing halfheartedly through her nerves, Cat nodded. At first, Robbie didn't respond, looking like he was thinking really hard about something. Cat didn't know how to interpret that, but the longer he didn't speak, the more she had a sinking feeling that it was a bad thing.

"Well, this is making me really nervous, so if you could please say something before I throw up," she requested innocently, "that would be nice."

"Yes," Robbie answered immediately. "I'll walk with you at graduation."

"Yay!" Cat exclaimed breathily. In her excitement, she tucked her hand under Robbie's jaw line and pressed her lips against the heat of his cheek.

"And everywhere else," he promised.

Cat pulled back abruptly to look into his eyes, only to find that he was being completely serious.

" _Robbie,"_ she said, lost for any other words and not sure why she wanted to cry so badly. Trying to get ahold of herself, she tried to blink away the tears that were clouding her vision and then picked up her flowery coronation crown. With shaking hands, she placed it on top of Robbie's head, centering it perfectly atop his curls.

"You look amazing," she said with a trembling voice, marveling at him.

" _You're_ amazing," he responded, tentatively pulling her closer to him, part of him still afraid that she would push him away.

His fear subsided when she threw her arms around his middle and buried her face in his shoulder, giggling and crying at the same time. He squeezed her tightly, whispering in her ear that it was okay. They laughed together when she started to hiccup, the light spasms traveling through both of them.

The other four at the table had been watching with bated breath. Tori and André gave Beck a desperate glance, to which Beck replied, "Go ahead. Let it out."

"Aw!" Tori practically squealed, having held it in for so long. "Carnation Day is the best!"

"I am… _very_ emotional right now," André said, shaking his head and fanning himself.

On either side on him, Tori and Jade reached out to comfort him as he covered his face with his hand.

"You can cry if you need to," Tori told him sympathetically.

"But don't, though," Jade discouraged.

"They love each other!" André wailed, unable to contain himself. "It's so beautiful!"

"It's alright, André. Tori's got you," Tori consoled, wrapping an arm around his.

"And _that_ is how you dramatize a lighthearted Hollywood Arts tradition," Beck said, looking at Cat and Robbie and nodding in approval. "Sikowitz would be proud."

"Cat?" Jade said suddenly.

Cat tilted her head on Robbie's shoulder to look at Jade. "Yeah?"

"What did you wish for at the fountain on Friday?"

Cat looked at Jade blankly. "I can't tell you; it's a secret."

"You're allowed to tell if your wish already came true," Jade insisted.

"Oh, well then I wished that Robbie would love me back."

"Gah, y'all are _killin_ _'_ me!" André said tearfully.

"Cat… you didn't have to wish for that."

Cat tilted her head back toward Robbie. "Why not?"

"I already loved you."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period.

Ignoring it, Cat hastily pulled Robbie toward her and kissed him.

Jade's hand shot out to grasp Beck's arm.

Beck smirked as Robbie kissed Cat back and Jade's grip started to cut off his circulation. "That's gonna bruise, you know."

"It'll heal," Jade said tightly, only squeezing him harder as Cat and Robbie broke apart and smiled at each other like everything was right in the world.

"Okay, everyone," Beck said in the paternal voice he sometimes had to use with his friends. "Gather your belongings and your feelings. It's time to go to class."

"Walk with me to class?" Cat asked Robbie as they both stood up.

"I said everywhere, didn't I?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Yay," she said contently, admiring how the afternoon sunlight illuminated Robbie's flower crown as they walked.

"Come on, big guy, let's go," Tori said, pulling a sniffling André up out of his seat.

When Tori didn't let go of his arm as they followed after Cat and Robbie, André smiled brightly at his beautiful best friend, laughing as he wiped away the last of his tears.

"I hate Carnation Day," Jade said to Beck, trying to recover from her accidental display of emotion.

"No, you don't," Beck replied, bumping into her playfully.

"Don't test me, Oliver," she warned.

"All of this is what you wanted to happen. You love Carnation Day, you love your friends, and you love me," he said confidently before kissing her forehead.

"Fine," she acquiesced as they caught up to the others, "but don't tell anyone."

"You know I won't," Beck said, loving being Jade's number one secret-keeper and loving the way it felt to have her at his side.

And with a happiness that could not be shaken, the three pairs filed into the building one behind the other, just as they would on the day they celebrated their graduation from Hollywood Arts.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of a lovely little Victorious world where everyone loves each other and ships Cabbie. Lol. Look out for more Victorious fics from me in the future! ;)


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